1 Language and Communication: Users and Producers

1.1. Six flags for six languages: the ARENA Portal

For the visitor to the ARENA Portal for Archaeological Records of Europe Networked Access, the first option is to choose the language of the interface: Danish, English, Icelandic, Polish, Norwegian or Romanian (Figure 1). These are the languages of the six partners in the European project (CULTURE 2000 Programme) developed between 2001 and 2004 (see Kenny et al 2002 and Kenny and Kilbride 2004). They are also the languages of the records of sites and monuments and the archaeological archives made available online by the partner organisations. We expect a significant number of visitors from these countries, which made the choice of each respective mother tongue a natural one. By clicking on the little flags on the right side of the screen, an interface and search facilities are presented in your preferred language. The results of your selection on period, site categories and geographical location can be in any of these languages, but you can be confident that you will get what you want.